Venice Biennale 2012: Dialogue Architecture / Juan Herreros

During the 13th Venice Biennale we had the chance to interview Spanish architect Juan Herreros, founder of Herreros Arquitectos (full interview in a following post).

The exhibit Dialogue Architecture aims to expose the complex relations that happen behind the scenes of a project, part of the technical aspects of architecture from where innovation informs the creative side of it.

According to Spanish architect Juan Herreros, technical culture forms a common ground that is crucial to architecture. This culture is formed from the dialogue between colleagues, experts, and consultants across a wide range of specialisms. Reflecting this, Herreros presents a selection of architectural forms, construction details, and organisational charts at the 13th International Architecture Exhibition. These are presented in the abstract, displayed with no references to the buildings from which they are drawn. The deliberate intention is to open an unbiased dialogue – the “what”, “how”, and “why” of these projects – that can be used by third parties as the start of further exploration.

The architect is not interested in the fascination for technology or unnecessary complexities. Instead, he proposes that “thinking technical” allows one to make decisions and to identify what might be superfluous. “The construction of the immediate future requires the cooperative coexistence of initiatives from private individuals alongside those of the community” says Herreros. “This community will no longer be formed only by the architects and construction designers but, on the contrary, will be enriched with contributions from those who occur and share these spaces day by day.

The first consequence of this expansion and infiltration of architecture into other disciplines will be the recovery of its role as a social practice involved in the changed that really matter”. This approach transforms a contemporary project into a rich assembly of skills, abilities, and knowledge. It brings the old idea of teamwork up to date in order to convert a design process more and more into a research program. Herreros suggests that “thinking technical” is also a reference system and a vehicle to understand the past and visit the future. It is a critical resource that has yet to be fully exploited when it comes to reading, interpreting, describing, and acting responsibly on a troubled and uncontrolled reality.